Tonge sacked over bombing comments

Charles Kennedy has asked Jenny Tonge to step down as the Liberal Democrats' spokeswoman for children following her claim that she might consider becoming a suicide bomber if she lived in the Palestinian territories.

The MP made her remarks at a meeting of the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign [PSC] on Wednesday, and has subsequently insisted she did not mean to condone suicide bombings.

Yesterday the party distanced itself from the MP, with a spokesman saying: "Jenny Tonge was expressing her personal views. The Liberal Democrats do not condone terrorism."

But Dr Tonge and the Lib Dems have continued to suffer a barrage of criticism, including a demand from the shadow foreign secretary, Michael Ancram, that Mr Kennedy condemn his colleague.

Mr Ancram claimed the party's response to Dr Tonge's remarks was "fainthearted" and asked the Lib Dem leader whether he believed it would "satisfy those who have suffered at the hands of suicide bombers".

"I urge you to personally intervene by distancing both yourself and your party from Dr Tonge's comments as a matter of urgency," he demanded.

Dr Tonge has also been condemned by a spokesman for the Israeli embassy, who said: "We would not expect any human being - and surely not a British MP - to express an understanding of such atrocities."

The Labour MP Louise Ellman, a member of the Holocaust educational trust, also demanded that she apologise for "giving the green light to terrorism".

Dr Tonge told the PSC: "This particular brand of terrorism, the suicide bomber, is truly born out of desperation.

"Many, many people criticise, many, many people say it is just another form of terrorism, but I can understand and I am a fairly emotional person and I am a mother and a grandmother. I think if I had to live in that situation, and I say this advisedly, I might just consider becoming one myself.

"And that is a terrible thing to say."

This morning she sought to clarify her remark, telling BBC Breakfast: "That doesn't mean to say I condone suicide bombers, I don't. "I think it's appalling and loathsome. But we have to try and understand where they are coming from and understand the situation in which they live."